


Winds of Change

by Nerdofmanytalents



Series: As Long as You Follow [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Felicity is mother to Jonas the Sassbucket Smoak, Gen, I am stuffing soooo much stuff between episodes, Tommy meets Jonas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 14:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19427614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdofmanytalents/pseuds/Nerdofmanytalents
Summary: Tommy finds an unexpected visitor hiding under the bar.[This segment takes place before the events of "Whats the Matter, Baby."]





	Winds of Change

**Author's Note:**

> Back again! Sorry for the long delay. 2019 has been a very very hard year. I've been spending lots of time with my two children, and I've also been struggling with some rough personal issues. My best friend of 14 years is going through the final stages of a fatal brain tumor, and writing has always been 'our thing' with each other, so grief has made the drive to write very hard to find. Additionally, there's been some familial drama which has left me exhausted for weeks on end. However, I feel like I'm finally balancing out emotionally and I was able to put this together to get back into the saddle.
> 
> This segment is dedicated to Bluedove, who recently left me a very very kind review and reminded me that I do love this story still and I want to keep going on it. Thank you also to everyone who has supported me on this series and left me kind reviews! I read and genuinely appreciate every one!
> 
> This might be a bit rough as it is unbeta'd and I haven't written Tommy all that much and I'm not too practiced with writing his voice. As a note, this piece chronologically takes place before Moira and Thea meet Jonas.

Tommy had come across a lot of things in the old foundry they were converting into a nightclub. The detritus from the steel mill were obvious, but there was the less usual as well. Teenagers who had used the spot as a place to drink beer, a homeless man who had been resting there for the night. Surprise visits from workmen. He'd even been startled one particularly memorable time by a raccoon that had run screaming from one of the back offices. 

Never a little kid though. 

And yet, there was. A small boy with a curly mop of blonde hair, curled up under the unstocked bar, the light of a tablet illuminating his face. Something about the kid seemed vaguely familiar. Tommy stared for a long moment before clearing his throat. He had to suppress a grin when the boy scrambled, taking a full five seconds to very uh-stealthily hide the tablet under his shirt. 

“Hello,” Tommy said. The boy stared up at him wide-eyed. “What are you doing here, buddy?”

“Hiding,” he confessed, looking guilty. “Mom said tablet time was done but I finished my homework so I borrowed it back.”

“Oh really,” Tommy remarked with amusement. “What were you playing?”

“Plants vs Zombies. There's new levels!” The kid lit up, scrambling to his knees excitedly and removing his hidden table. He reached to tug Tommy down to show him. “See? There's whole new plants too!” 

“That's pretty great. But uh...seriously kid, where did you come from?” He asked, crouching next to the bar, then peeking above for a moment as if looking for wayward parents. “Pretty sure the front door was locked.”

“Downstairs. I'm not lost,” he said with a level of condescending sass that only adorable children get away with. Or at least he and Oliver always got away with it as children. Most of the time. Okay, sometimes.

Tommy was about to reply when he heard a rapid clicking of heels and recognized Oliver's voice coming from one of the back areas. 

“...can't have gone far, Felicity, it's only been five minutes-”

“Clearly you've not been exposed to the Houdini artist that he is, last week he managed to override the security alarm in my apartment entirely and made it down to the car by himself because he _'forgot,'_ something, he could be halfway home for all we know. Jonas!”

Tommy looked back down at the confirmed missing child, frowning as the kid--Jonas, apparently--tried to hide himself further under the counter. 

“Uh hey, Oliver? I seem to have found a distressingly adorable child hiding in our nightclub,” Tommy spoke up as Oliver emerged from the back hall with a harried-looking blonde woman at his heels. “You wouldn’t happen to be missing one, would you?”

Both adults whipped his direction as he spoke, and he gestured down to the bar. He then peeked back under at the kid.

“You better come out, buddy, your mom looks upset.”

Jonas sighed before crawling out, hiding the tablet behind is back. As soon as they could see him, his mom and Oliver hurried forward. 

“Aaron Jonas Smoak!! What have I told you about running off when we're here?! It isn't _safe,_ honey!! You scared Oliver and I half to death when we couldn't find you!” She scolded, running efficient hands over him as if to check if he was unscathed. Oliver, too, crouched down and seemed to be examining him for signs of harm. Jonas shrugged, and the gesture tickled a vague familiarity with Tommy.

“I'm sorry, I just wanted to play my game again!”

She quickly took the tablet from him. “I know you did but you knew we were done for the day and you took it anyway. You broke the rules, and you scared me because you ran away. You are _grounded_ for the rest of the day, and tomorrow.”

Jonas looked aghast. “But mom..!”

“Do you want it to be the rest of the weekend?” She asked sharply. “No sassing. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I'm sorry, mom,” he said mulishly, kicking his feet.

“And to Oliver?” She expanded with a raised brow and nodding towards the man next to her. “You scared him too.”

The boy suddenly looked very contrite, as if truly devastated to have disappointed Oliver. If Tommy had any idea what was going on, he might have been highly amused, especially since Oliver seemed surprised he was to get an apology as well. 

“I'm sorry, daddy. I didn't mean to scare you.”

There was a sudden choking noise that took Tommy a moment to realize was coming from him, returning a wide-eyed look to the surprised (apparent!) parents who had seemingly forgotten he was there. 

Felicity’s face turned bright red. “Oh. Oh, uh...oh my gosh, Oliver, I….I'm _so_ sorry, I forgot-”

Oliver waved her off gently. “It's fine, Felicity. We were going to start telling some people soon, anyway.”

“Uh...Oliver, not to be rude but...what the hell? Uh, I mean heck?” Tommy corrected quickly at Felicity slapping her hands over Jonas’ ears. “Who…”

Oliver glanced at Felicity and Jonas before looking back to Tommy. “Well, uh...this is Felicity and Jonas. Jonas...is my son.”

Tommy’s mind was working a mile a minute, evaluating the kid standing with his mother, who gave him a bit of an awkward wave. Now that he realized it, he couldn’t help but notice the myriad of similarities between Oliver and the boy. It was almost like looking back at old photo albums from when they were kids. And...Jonas had to be nearly school aged. Tommy looked back to Oliver, eyes still wide.

“He's...how old...then be must be from before…” It was more of an inelegant thought process out loud than an actual statement. 

“Jonas was born a few months after...after Oliver disappeared. He didn't know about us until a few weeks ago,” Felicity finally spoke, standing back up.

Tommy blinked. “Uh...okay, wow. You...you've got a kid. That's cool. Uh..does your mom know?”

“Not yet. We’ve kinda been getting used to the idea of each other,” Oliver offered, gesturing between their little family unit, and wow wasn’t that a thought? Oliver suddenly looked incredibly vulnerable as he turned his attention back to Tommy. “Would you mind holding off on telling mom and Thea? I’m...not quite ready, I’d like to find the best way to tell them.”

“Of course, I completely understand. It’s...kinda a big deal. Wow.” Tommy pauses for a long second. “Wait, what are you guys even doing here?”

Oddly, they seemed more uncomfortable with that question than all his previous, before the two of them exchanged a look. Tommy’s first thought was clandestine tryst but with the addition of the third wheel that is a child, that seemed unlikely. 

“I’ve um, been helping set up various networks and stuff for the club,” Felicity finally explained. “I was going over the new equipment with Oliver when we lost track of Jonas.”

“I thought we were hiring a contractor to do that?”

“Felicity is better,” Oliver quickly offered. “Felicity knows tech better than anyone, she’s been getting me up to date on everything that’s changed since I was away.”

Felicity continued. “I’m developing a master computer system that’s proprietary for your club. Point of sale, inventory, accounting, all that jazz. Today I was making sure your internet was hooked up with a better modem because the ones they give you from the company are always a complete joke-“

“I get it, I get it,” Tommy waved off with a small laugh. “It seems like you guys have it in hand then.”

He paused for a second. “Actually if it helps you guys, I guess Jonas could hang out with me while you guys finish up?”

Oliver turned to defer to Felicity, who bit her lip for a second before turning to Tommy. “If you’re comfortable with that? We only needed about ten more minutes or so, it would be really helpful.” She turned back to Oliver. “In fact, you could hang out with them if you like, at this point you’re just underfoot,” she said with a playful jab at Oliver’s chest. 

“Oh, I can see when I’m not wanted,” he quipped. “Fine, but just let me know if you need anything.”

She made a shooing motion in Tommy’s direction as she nudged Jonas towards Oliver. “Go, go. I work faster without distractions.”

Tommy couldn’t help but notice the extremely fond look on Oliver’s face as he watched Felicity head back down the hall, quirking an eyebrow when he looked back at Tommy. 

“So... _Felicity._ She seems nice.”

“She is. And we’re not talking about this,” Oliver said with a small nod towards Jonas. Tommy grinned.

“Oh we will. But for now-“ Tommy turned his attention to Jonas. “How would you like to break into my secret stash of fruit snacks?”

Jonas lit up. “Yeah!” He darted away from Oliver and began dancing around Tommy’s ankles. Tommy grinned at him before leading Jonas towards the stairs, leaving Oliver to follow with a bemused shake of his head. “Mom loves fruit snacks! She likes the kinds with gooey insides. Do you like the kinds with gooey insides? My dad doesn’t like fruit snacks, he says they’re too sweet.”

“That’s because your dad is a sourpuss.” Tommy imparted with an air of wisdom. “Did you know your dad, when he was your age, once ate an entire lemon, even the peel? It’s why he hates sweet things, they turned his taste buds inside out. He’s never been the same since.”

“Woah! Really?!”

“It’s the truth.”

“Tommy!”

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback, comments, and questions are loved and appreciated! Thank you for your time!


End file.
